SAN DIEGO — San Diego County is paying nearly $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a 24-year-old pregnant woman who died in jail five years ago after a sheriff’s deputy and a medical worker found her collapsed in a cell.
The settlement was reached Friday night after lengthy negotiations between the county and family members of Elisa Serna, just weeks before the case was set to go to trial. The deal was confirmed by the judge overseeing the federal trial, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Tuesday.
“The dollar amount doesn’t matter,” said Elisa’s mother, Paloma Serna, who plans to continue advocating for other men and women in sheriff’s custody. “These things don’t change the fact that Elisa is never coming back.”
San Diego County will pay $14 million, while Coast Correctional Medical Group, which provides medical staff to treat people in prison, will pay $1 million, the newspaper reported.
Earlier this year, the prison nurse who responded to Serna’s collapse was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in his November 2019 death at the Las Colinas Detention Facility in the San Diego suburb of Santee.
Serna, who was five weeks pregnant, was booked into jail five days before her death. She was suffering from alcohol and drug withdrawal and had told jail staff she had used heroin hours before her arrest, prosecutors said.
When Serna passed out, the nurse said forgot to check her vitals and left her on the floor of her cell for about an hour before returning with officers to perform “futile life-saving measures,” prosecutors said.
The coroner determined that she died from complications of chronic “polydrug abuse.”
In addition to the $15 million payment, the agreement calls for the sheriff’s department to provide new training for deputies and medical staff at the jail.
It also allows the judge to monitor the sheriff’s department’s compliance with the agreement for the next 12 months, the Union-Tribune reported.
Following the settlement, Sheriff Kelly Martinez released a statement saying she was not on duty at the time of Serna’s death and highlighting the changes she’s made since she was sworn in last year.
“There have been many changes and an incredible shift in priorities, approach and processes in our jails since 2019,” Martinez wrote. “As sheriff, I am committed to improving our jail system and ensuring that the jails are safe for everyone incarcerated and for all of our employees.”